These Everyday Magic Moments
by buckice
Summary: A series of noncanon fluffy oneshots each centered around one item of meaning to Luke and Lorelai. Chapter Two: Lorelai finds something in Luke's closet that he's kept for many years.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary**: A series of non-canon oneshots about various items of meaning to Luke and Lorelai.

**Disclaimer**: Obviously not mine, Luke and Lorelai are happy here.

**Notes**: I've noticed that people have been asking for some nice fluffy LL fics and since I've been one that has contributed to the paramount pile of angsty LL fics of late, I thought I would also write some fluff as well.

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**Chapter 1: The Salt Girl Cometh **

With a sly smile on her face, she taps on the door to Luke's apartment above the diner. "Just a second!" she hears him call from inside and bites her lower lip to keep from the outlandish grin that she knows is trying to form on her face. She tightens her grip on the object in her hand waiting patiently, which is definitely not her strong suit. "Sorry I was trying to…" he trails off as he opens the door.

Starting with the bright yellow boots encasing her feet, he slowly trails his eyes up the rest of her body. He takes in her sunny dress, baby-dollish, with a yellow ribbon around her waist. He notices that her hair, still long and black, considering it would have scared him out of his wits if she had gone as far as to change that, is straightened, parted on the side and clipped back on the right side with a golden barrette. Finally he glances at the purple umbrella in her hand.

She grins, her teeth still biting her lower lip but now in a very adorable way. "Well?" Lorelai asks brightly. He swallows visibly with an expression that, as surprising as it may be, she just can't read.

"That's what you're wearing on our date?" he finally manages.

"That's what you're wearing on our date?" she instantly responds, pointing with amusement at his outfit. Luke stands in front of her, leaning a hand on the doorframe, in nothing but socks, an undershirt and boxers.

"You're early."

"Early!" Lorelai exclaims, shaking the umbrella at him. "I'm not early. I'm ten minutes late!"

"Well, early for you." She sticks out her tongue. He grins and steps back to let her in. "Hang out while I get dressed." She purses her lips walking around the room as if searching for something.

"So you never told me what you thought of my outfit," Lorelai comments as casually as possible.

"It's uh…" She pouts. Luke grabs a pair of jeans out of a drawer and begins to put them on. She puts a hand on her hip, waiting. In the process of putting the jeans on, he notices that she is just standing there staring at him with an expectant look on her face. He looks up at her just as he's stepping up to put his left leg in and loses his balance. As he's falling he tries to grab onto the nearby chair but it slips away from him and he hits the ground with a thud.

"Luke!" Lorelai exclaims, dropping the umbrella and instantly running to his side. She squats down next to him rubbing his shoulder. "You okay?" Luke gives her a look that is so clearly pissed off that she lets out a loud peal of laughter.

"This is not a circus act Lorelai."

"I know, Baby. It's just, for a guy who can balance a Mountie hat as well as you, you're really a klutz." He grimaces.

"There is no Mountie hat," he growls. Lorelai wraps a hand around his upper arm as if to help him up, but he doesn't move to get up. He gazes at her, laying a hand on her knees. "You do look kinda cute right now." Lorelai blushes, looking away, amazed that his compliment to her, that he's made so many times before, still makes her blush. Though she knows he appreciates her looks, his verbal compliments are uncommon, which only make her cherish them more.

"So you do like the outfit." He rolls his eyes, making her laugh again. "You're cute too, especially when you get all 'the fates hate me' on me." Lorelai winks and keeps giggling. "You want some help up?"

"If you'd stop laughing, then yes, it would be nice if my girlfriend would help me off the floor." She tucks one hand under his shoulder and grabs his hand in her other hand.

"Okay, up!" They both groan as they get him to his feet. "Hmmm… I think you were cuter on the floor." She runs a hand through her hair walking to the bathroom to fix her barrette.

"I think you'll like me better in actual clothes."

"I wouldn't bet on that!" she calls from the bathroom.

"So how does Sniffy's sound tonight?"

"Great! I think Buddy would really appreciate me in this outfit!" Luke groans as he buttons his shirt.

"Are you really wearing that out?" She walks out of the bathroom dumbfounded.

"You say that like it's a federal crime? As if it wearing nothing would almost be better!"

"No. I just don't think that Buddy would... appreciate your outfit the way I do," Luke responds.

"Nice save, Willy Mays." She walks up to him and adjusts his collar, giving him a light kiss on the lips when she's done. "You know, I told you that you'd know what you saw in me the minute you saw me in the boots."

"Well right now I see a crazy woman who's in a very short dress and expecting me to take her out so I'm trying not to look at the short dress, especially the legs that are beneath it."

"That's the legman I know and love!" She grabs his face in her hands and kisses him soundly on the mouth. "Okay let me just grab my umbrella and we'll go."

"I'm going to dinner with Ms. Halloween," Luke mutters.

"Oh that's what we should rent tonight."

"What?"

"Halloween!"

"Huh?"

"Come on, Luke. Halloween! Michael Myers is on the loose and he goes after Jamie Lee Curtis and her friends. And you think the whole thing is going to be so spooky until you realize they always play the scary music just before something happens," Lorelai explains, astonished that he hasn't heard of it.

"Well since you already gave away that little secret, guess we don't have to watch it anymore."

"Oh no Luke, I know you'll find this scary," Lorelai promises as she walks back over to him after picking up her umbrella.

"You do?"

"But don't worry because you'll have your all powerful girlfriend there to save you when you're frightened." She bats her eyelashes at him as she says this. He shrugs nonchalantly.

"I guess that'll do it." He winks.

"Yay! All right I'm all ready. Let's go boyfriend!" She grabs his hand as they head out the door. Luke stops her in the hallway so he can lock the door. "Ug, Luke, I promise no one is going to break in and steal your precious flannels." He gives her a settling look.

"I just want to be safe. Just because you feel some astounding security in this world, which by the way you won't tonight since I'm staying at your place, doesn't mean we all have to."

"Oh Baby, you sure turn me on when you talk like that," Lorelai teases as they head down the stairs. Luke gets Lane's attention, making sure she knows he's heading out before he follows Lorelai outside, where they find it's raining. With a smirk and a wink, she lifts her umbrella and opens it.

"Did I tell you how much I like your outfit?" he asks. She shakes her head, grabbing him by his arm and pulling him closer and under the umbrella with her as they head off towards his truck.


	2. Pining No More

**Chapter 2: Pining No More**

It is going to be another long night at the diner. This is obvious by the randomly placed couples throughout the place that have been sitting there for over an hour. In the meantime, he's just been standing behind the counter fiddling with the toaster, rapping his fingers on the counter, wiping down the counter over and over until he's sure he's practically sanded it down. The sheer boredom of this night reminds him of why he hates nights that he's working late at the diner and Lorelai's stuck at the inn, almost reminds him of life before Lorelai, a time he'd rather not think about.

The bell rings above the door as a new customer walks in but he doesn't look up figuring they'll just grab a seat and he'll get to them when he feels like it. "Hey!" Lorelai exclaims walking in and up to the counter. He looks up at her with surprise.

"Uh… hey…" he says, dumbfounded. She leans across the counter and gives him a soft kiss on the lips.

"Mmmm, that'll get me through the night." He still seems bewildered by her appearance in his place of business.

"What – what are you doing here?" he stammers. Lorelai arches an eyebrow in response.

"Man, I'm feeling the love now." He chuckles in embarrassment.

"No, no I meant, why are you here? I thought you had a meeting," Luke says.

"I do. But I spilled coffee on my skirt so I ran home during the dinner break to change and I realized that the shoes that go with my new skirt are here. So I came by to get them," she explains.

"You spilled coffee on your skirt?"

"Yeah."

"Should I even ask how…?" Lorelai grins.

"Do you really want to know?" He leans back, tapping a hand on the counter.

"Actually no. Go on up the door's unlocked."

"Better make sure Hoffa's crew didn't come in the back door and go after your mini-TV." He sighs with aggravation.

"Just go."

"Kay, be back in one, two minutes tops." She winks and walks into the back. Luke turns and watches her go, sighing and glancing back around the diner. One couple seems to be getting up and leaving but the other two seem pretty set to stay for the duration. Putting his head in his hands, he sighs again.

Finally, after the couple has left, Luke walks over and picks up the check and money bring it over to the register. Glancing at his watch, he realizes that he hasn't seen Lorelai come downstairs yet. With one more scan of the diner, he figures that he can leave the two couples alone for a moment and heads up the back stairs and into his apartment. There he finds Lorelai on the floor in front of his closet surrounded by various shoe boxes.

"Did you get swallowed by my closet?" he teases as he walks over to her. She glances up at him.

"Luke…"

"I thought you had a meeting to get to."

"Luke." She waves the shoebox in her hand at him.

"Couldn't find your shoes? It's probably because you have more shoes here than I do." She gives him a look and reaches out a hand to him. Confused, he sets his hand in hers and she pulls him down next to her. "Did I do something to your shoes?" She flashes him a smile.

"No. When I was looking through the shoe boxes, I found this," Lorelai says. She opens up the shoebox in her lap and picks up the gathering of petals in the form of a rose that has long since died.

"Ah." Luke takes the flower from her, gingerly running his thumb over it.

"You keep flowers?" Lorelai asks. Luke shrugs. "Seriously, flowers? That's such a girl thing to do!"

"Thanks." She hits him playfully.

"No I mean… is it from Rachel?"

"Rachel? No."

"I mean, you pined for Rachel. I remember that fabulous rhinestone jacket." Luke groans.

"I wasn't pining."

"No, you were remembering." Lorelai rubs his arm. "It's okay. I mean, you missed her."

"No, I mean yes, but no. I just felt guilty." Lorelai sits back.

"Guilty?"

"Well, it's true, she left me. But really I had left the relationship about a month before," Luke explains. Lorelai furrows her eyebrows in confusion. He nods, softly tracing a finger over her hand that sits on his knee. "Because about a month before this crazy lady had entered my diner, long dark hair, bright blue eyes and she had me instantly. I couldn't stop thinking about her." Lorelai's eyes shine with adoration. He takes a deep breath feeling utterably exposed right now. "And even when I was with Rachel, I couldn't stop thinking of her."

"With Rachel?" He sighs.

"Nothing dirty, just when I was just hanging with Rachel." She grins. Slowly he manages to take his eyes off of the flower in his hand and match her gaze. She leans in and kisses him.

"You're sweet." He nods, not knowing what else to do in his state of embarrassment. "So the flower isn't from Rachel. Did you even know it was here anymore?"

"Yeah. Yeah I did."

"Who's it from? Your secret girlfriend you've got stowed away in the next town?" she teases.

"Not a secret anymore, huh?" he jokes. Then he squeezes her hand. "It's from you." Lorelai looks back at the flower in his other hand, studying it. "You remember?" She nods slowly.

"From my mall trip with Rory." He nods. "I can't believe you kept this."

"Well I kept your horoscope in my wallet for eight years," Luke reminds her.

"That's true. But this is a flower. You're a guy keeping a flower. Girls keep flowers to remember."

"Well I had to then, I didn't have you."

"But now you do?" He nods, squeezing her hand again.

"Now I do."

"So you knew it was here?" Luke shrugs.

"Yeah." She cocks her head, pressing her lips together. She reaches over and rubs his arm with her hand that's not in his.

"You've got me Luke. You're never going to lose me," she says softly. He nods, taking a deep breath. "You don't need to keep a nasty dried up flower to remember me because I'm here. I'm right next to you. Unless you're dreaming." She pinches him.

"Ow!" he exclaims, rubbing his arm. Lorelai shrugs.

"Guess you're not dreaming."

"Okay, I've got a diner with two annoying pairs of people downstairs and I don't want them running off with ketchup," he says, pushing himself up off the floor.

"Man, McCarthy could have used you on his team," Lorelai teases. He leans down and places a kiss on her lips.

"Get your shoes or you're going to be late and then you'll blame me and I'd rather not see the results of that." With that he turns around and walks away. Lorelai watches him leave, noticing that just as he reaches the door, he drops the flower into the trashcan. She smiles to herself and goes back to searching for her shoes.


End file.
